OFF! Played Asbury Lanes w/ Cerebral Ballzy and NASA Space Universe, 5/12/14

I, On The Other Hand, Played It Safe

I like taking pictures at shows. Running CoolDad Music for the last 2-plus years has shown me that I really enjoy photography in general, though, I seem only to be able to take decent pictures indoors, in the dark, when the subject is holding a guitar or a mic. I brought my camera and two lenses with me to Monday night's OFF! show at Asbury Lanes.

Photojournalists are some of the most fearless people on earth. They throw themselves into war zones and other harrowing situations just to get the shot. That's not me, I guess. I spent most of the evening hanging toward the back of the venue, avoiding the fray, leaving the picture-taking to the unusually high number of professional photographers for a show at Asbury Lanes, most of whom had nice spots above the action. It was actually kind of nice. I got to talk to the whole Little Dickman Records crew who turned out for the show; and I got to meet Speak Into My Good Eye colleague and sharp, young music business mind, Drea Rose, for the first time.

Santa Ana, California's NASA Space Universe started things at around 8:15. Vocalist Kevin Rhea spent the whole of the band's ferocious set on the floor with the crowd. It took a while for the people to get into things, and Rhea yelled at the crowd several times. "C'mon show me what you got!!" The band's own energy level remained high, and they eventually got the crowd to come around.

Cerebral Ballzy

By the time Brooklyn's Cerebral Ballzy took the stage, the audience had gotten pretty riled. I made my way up to the front to get a few shots, but then lead singer Honor Titus requested that Asbury Lanes
turn out the stage lights. No more pics; but the darkness didn't bother the crowd, who were going at it pretty hard by this point, at all. Between bursts of hardcore rage, Titus repeatedly thanked everyone and mentioned how much he enjoyed the venue.

I floated back to the rear, against the tide, as people made their way up front for OFF! The hardcore supergroup did an hourlong set heavy on material from 2014's Wasted Years: "Void You Out," "Red White and Black," "No Easy Escape," "Hypnotized," etc. The rest of the OFF! catalog received attention with songs like "Black Thoughts," "Panic Attack," "Wrong,' "Borrow and Bomb," and "I Got News For You."

Keith Morris was his trademark presence on stage, delivering his manic vocals and telling us all to "have as much fun as you can" during a life that isn't always fair. Drummer Mario Rubalcaba was a force of nature and, together with Dimitri Coats on guitar and Steven McDonald on bass, made it obvious that this band was much more than just Morris. When Morris sternly told one fan in a Black Flag t-shirt, "There won't be any Black Flag songs. No Circle Jerks songs," the thought had never even crossed my mind. Morris did dedicate several of the songs to another former vocalist in Black Flag, Dez Cadena, who was at the show watching from the audience.

Almost from the beginning, people began climbing up on stage and diving back into the crowd. The floor in front of the stage turned into a wide circle pit, people flailing and windmilling. Flashes from the phalanx of photographers in attendance fired continuously throughout the set, while I remained safely in the back with a pretty nice sight line to the band.

I've said before that I wasn't really into hardcore punk as a kid. I probably didn't even know the names Keith Morris and Dez Cadena until long after Black Flag were in their heyday. But I was into it on Monday night -- from my safe, adult position in the rear.